§ Lord Pearson of Rannochasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much money the UK has spent since 1972, and how much it should expect to spend in the foreseeable future (a) as a result of European Water Directives; and (b) on water storage, infrastructure and supply; whether they can supply similar statistics for the other 14 member states of the EU; and, if not, whether they will ask the European Commission to supply them.
§ Baroness HaymanFull information on spending since 1972 is not available. Some of the existing European water directives were agreed more than 20 years ago and it is not possible to separate historic costs associated with individual directives. Current best estimates for the most significant directives in terms of costs are: Bathing Water Directive £2,000 million; and Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive £8,000 million.
The cost to the water industry in England and Wales of meeting the requirement of the Water Quality Regulations for drinking water between 1990–91 and 1994–95 was £2,600 million. Further improvements to the quality of drinking water planned for the period 1995–2005 would cost in the region of £3,900 million.
In setting price limits for the water and sewerage companies in England and Wales in 1994, the allowance made by the Director General of the Office of Water Services for capital expenditure from 1995–96 to 2004–05 was £24,000 million. Of this, £12,000 million was for the maintenance of assets and £1,000 million for improving water resources and to reduce the risk of flooding from sewers; £11,000 million was for quality improvements in response both to national priorities and to the requirements of European Community directives.
101WAWe do not have comprehensive information on expenditure to meet European community directives by other member states. Information for the period since 1972 is not collated by the European Commission and consequently is not available on a comparable basis for all member states.